Film Review: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones

Posted on 27th March 2015 by 5WC in Film

So we jump forward ten years from Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace and arrive at a time when everything has changed and yet somehow stayed statically familiar. Episode 2 – Attack Of The Clones instantly feels connected to what has gone before it but because the characters have aged also feels removed. Watching them so close together you can feel that they naturally flow into each other, but also that they are basically two independent stories.

Sadly though, while I sense their shared history, I just fail to really buy into Attack of the Clones. Everything just feels to necessary. Forced together to fit a bigger picture rather than being a coherent story. It also swings wildly between action and romance and neither really convey the strength to carry the film. The fighting too weak and unsatisfactorily simple, the romance too dandelions and buttercup meadows. Read more

Film Review: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

Posted on 10th August 2014 by 5WC in Film

Recently I discovered the potential delights of the Curzon Home Cinema service now available through Freesat and decided that I’d give it a go. So I signed up, added some funds and went searching for a cheap, but potentially good film to act as the proverbial guinea pig. And Salmon Fishing In The Yemen seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

It’s one of those films, that everybody seems to have heard of, conjures up pre viewing images of warmth and happiness from it’s name alone and yet, seems to have passed everybody by. Watching the trailer, my initial reaction was that it was going to be a pleasant, entertaining film. A throw away Sunday night film and I was half expecting to come out the other side so-to-speak, having found a film that is thoroughly enjoyable and yet also instantly forgettable. Read more